Nets of Awareness: Urdu Poetry and Its Critics
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.68 (591 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0520081943 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-09-14 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
The British had science, urban planning—and Wordsworth. Frances Pritchett's lively, compassionate book joins literary criticism with history to explain how Urdu poetry—long the pride of Indo-Muslim culture—became devalued in the second half of the nineteenth century.This abrupt shift, Pritchett argues, was part of the backlash following the violent Indian Mutiny of 1857. Azad and Hali had a discredited culture and a metaphysical, sexually ambiguous poetry that differed radically from English lyric forms.Pritchett's beautiful reconstruction of the classical Urdu poetic vision allows us to understand one of the world's richest literary traditions and also highlights the damaging potential of colonialism.. She uses the lives and writings of the distinguished poets and critics Azad and Hali to show the disastrous consequences—culturally and politically—of British rule
"Urdu poetry made splendidly accessible to English readers" according to Francis G. Hutchins. This is a superb book, beautifully and lovingly written. An account of an aspect of Islam that needs to be better known. The rich, romantic tradition of Urdu poetry is carefully explicated by an expert who loves her subject matter.
About the AuthorFrances W. Pritchett is Associate Professor of Modern Indic Languages at Columbia University.
Pritchett is Associate Professor of Modern Indic Languages at Columbia University.. Frances W